


The Mirror's Gaze

by Eternal_Phantom



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated, Scooby Doo - All Media Types
Genre: Bodyswap, Post Reconciliation for the Skulls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-08-06 08:36:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Phantom/pseuds/Eternal_Phantom
Summary: An occult mirror called The Lifestealer leads to a unexpected journey for two teams of mystery solvers. Now Arthur Kingsman is in the body of Shaggy Rogers and vice versa and it is a race to  reconnect and get their own teammates back. But like all good investigative teams, cases find them and sometimes they end up being radically different than what they are used to. Plus there are secrets that they are keeping, from themselves... and one another





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr, but I've had requests to post it here. There are currently 16 chapters with Chapter 17 in process 
> 
> I’m setting this two years after the events of _Ghost_ and with the Mystery Inc between their last year of high school and first year of college. Velma is two years younger than the rest of the gang, but graduated with them because she skipped a few grades.
> 
> As such I’m excluding any continuity where they were old enough to hold jobs (Ghoul School, Zombie Island, Witches Ghost) and continuities where the whole gang was exposed to supernatural occurrences, (Double whammy for Zombie Island and Witches Ghost, also includes 13 Ghosts and movies like Alien Invaders and Samurai Sword.) Boo Brothers and Reluctant Werewolf are included, but we’re just gonna pretend Scrappy never happened.

“Jinkies Daphne, the exhibit is amazing,” Velma looked at all the different artifacts on display. Daphne’s family had funded the exhibit, showcasing various relics from medieval Europe. While Daphne herself wasn’t very interested, she knew her friends would be. While Velma was the most excited, Freddy was definitely captivated by the weaponry and armor display. Shaggy, however was eyeing everything suspiciously.

“Not enjoying yourself?” The curator, a Dr Leslie O’Neil, asked the lanky teen.

“Like, just wondering how many of these are cursed.” He shuddered.

“And what makes you think anything here is cursed?” Dr. O’Neil inquired with a wry grin.

“There’s, like, always something that cursed or haunted, and then a ghost appears, and we have to catch it. Just for once I’d like to skip it.”

The Doctor laughed. “Well you’ll be pleased to know not one of the items on display is cursed or haunted.”

Shaggy perked up. “Really?”

“Quite. The only cursed item is kept in the research room in the back.”

“Like, I knew it was too good to be true,” Shaggy moaned. Scooby whimpered beside him.

“Jeepers, Uncle Floyd never mentioned anything about a curse!” Daphne exclaimed, excited. “What kind is it?”

“It’s a simple mirror with a pewter backing. It’s called the LifeStealer. No one knows what it’s supposed to do, but various people in the museum have reported seeing someone else’s reflection in place of their own. A strange man in crimson robes wearing a mask.”

“Zoinks!” Shaggy exclaimed, shaking. Scooby had leapt into his arms and was whimpering slightly.

But Dr. O’Neil only laughed. “I’ve looked in that mirror several times and never saw anything more frightening than my own reflection. Floyd Blake vouched for you all, I’d be happy to let you see it.”

“Really? Daphne asked excitedly. “A real cursed mirror?”

“There’s no such thing as curses,” Velma pointed out evenly. “There’s probably an image behind a semi translucent setting that can only be viewed at a certain angle.”

“I definitely want to see it,” Fred finally took his eyes off the swords.

“Then step right this way,” Dr. O’Neil gestured toward an employee-only door. Beyond it was a brief hallway leading to a sterile lab. On each table was equipment meant for cleaning and restoring various items and paintings. They were lead to one such table which held a very simple mirror. “Like Velma, we assume it’s a trick having to do with perspective. We’ve been trying to crack it, but no luck so far.”

Daphne leaned in close. “I don’t see anything but myself,” She patted her hair down. “Though I do look fabulous,”

“Let me see,” Fred peered into the mirror. “Still nothing,”

“Of course not. You two viewed it at the same angle,” Velma responded, “May I?”

The doctor gestured to some protective gloves. Velma put them on and picked up the mirror, angling it from side to side. “No change. Maybe it has something to do with the ambient lighting? What do you think Shaggy?”

“Like, I think that it’s probably cursed and we should keep away from it!” He wanted nothing to do with the mirror. This was how cases started and relaxing vacations became far less relaxing.

Velma rolled her eyes. “It’s just a mirror, Shag, see?” She held it up to him.

Shaggy blinked, “Like didn’t those people say they saw a red cloaked guy in a mask?”

“That’s correct,” Dr. O’Neil confirmed.

“Cause, like,  I’m seeing a blond guy. And he seems pretty terrifi-” Shaggy suddenly rocked back, falling into a heap on the ground.

“Shaggy!” They ran to his side, Velma carefully placing the mirror down first. His eyes fluttered open. It took a moment for them to sharpen into clarity as he gaze at each of them one by one.

“Who the hell are you people?” he asked in a tone they’d never heard Shaggy use before.

~

To say Arthur Kingsmen disliked caves would be a grand understatement. He loathed them with every fiber of his being. Most of that had to do with a certain incident with a certain green mist. But things like this didn’t help either.

The chair was new, at least. It was way more comfortable than the usual stone slab, though any comfort derived from that was negated by the neck brace keeping his head from moving.

He’d missed what particular entity this group worshiped. They had all the familiar trappings, scarlet robes, creepy masks, Latin chanting, and of course the unending need to kidnap Arthur to placate some unholy entity.

He was beginning to wonder if he was getting jaded.

Well, normally he’d be a lot more nervous by now, but he’d heard the familiar sounds of Vivi’s rage and Lewis’s deadbeats. Right now the cultists were getting the hurt put on them and he’d be free soon enough.

He then heard the door to the cavern he was in creak open. “Hurry, we don’t have much time!”

Fear began to creep back in. That wasn’t his friends, which meant the cultists were trying to finish whatever they’d started.

“Hold his eyes open.” The leader instructed. “And keep your own shut,”

Arthur gulped and tried to struggle, but the chair prevented any struggling. With one of the mooks behind him holding his eyes open, he couldn’t help but see the head cultist pull out a small box. From it he drew a mirror.

“By the power of the Life-Stealer you shall be sacrificed to our Lord, Farzlrez Ken. And by it he shall raze the world to the ground.” The cultist shoved the mirror in Arthur’s face.

He had expected to see some hideous demon or other entity. Instead he saw what looked like a long faced teen with light brown hair. As he accidentally locked eyes with the boy he felt a feeling he was familiar with. He didn’t even have time to scream as he was ripped from his body and pulled into the mirror.

Arthur wasn’t sure what he was expecting from there. Perhaps oblivion or endless torment. Instead he regained consciousness in a brightly lit room with a group of people who were talking about something shaggy.

As he opened his eyes, he examined the people surrounding him. He didn’t recognize them, but that didn’t mean anything. The cultists had all worn body concealing robe and masks. And if he had been rescued somehow, Lewis and Vivi would have been right there with him.

“Who the hell are you people?” he asked suspiciously, trying to keep an eye on all of them at once.

The blond guy’s jaw dropped (seriously, there still were people bedsides Lewis who wore ascots?). The redhead jumped back like she’d been hit and the girl with glasses narrowed her eyes.

“I take it that’s not normal?” asked a woman in a lab coat.

“Definitely not,” said glasses-girl in a sour voice.

“Yeah, Shag. That’s not funny,” stated ascot-boy.

“We’ve known each other since elementary school” red-head added.

To Arthur, that confirmed his suspicions. He  _knew_  he’d never seen any of these people. That they were trying to convince him otherwise meant nothing good. Should he confront them on it, or play along until Lewis and Vivi found him?

Apparently playing along was out, as now they were all looking at him with small frowns. Note to self: work on poker face.

“Look you had your fun. Pretend the cursed mirror is real, ha ha,” Wow, glasses-girl’s disapproval sounded like Lewis when you tracked mud into the house. Hmm, she had acknowledge the mirror which was odd for this kind of scheme. Maybe it was  a give-you-a-reason-you’re-hallucinating deal? “But you really need to drop this, Shaggy.”

“Rat’s rot Raggy!” a voice growled.

Arthur turned his head slightly and came face to muzzle with a large Great Dane. He practically teleported backwards. He only had one experience with large talking canids. And no matter how necessary it had been, he still walked away with one less limb.

“Okay, that’s really taking this too far, scaring Scooby like that!” he heard redhead exclaim. But his eyes weren’t coming off the ‘dog’.

It merely shook his head. “Rot a rank. Rat’s rot Raggy!” it insisted.

“What is that?” Arthur demanded of his captors.

“Your dog?” Ascot-boy answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“One: I don’t have a dog. Two: _Dogs don’t talk_ ,” Arthur hissed.

The large canid took a step towards him and Arthur raise his arm in defense. He’d thought nothing could distract him from the creature in front of him. He was wrong.

His attention was completely consumed by the flesh and blood left arm now blocking his field of vision. He lowered the arm, watching the fingers twist and flex at his command. He ran his right finger over the arm and flinched at actually feeling sensations from it.

“This is impossible,” he whispered. His heart was pounding in his chest. He stared wide-eyed at the teenagers in front of him. “How did you do this? Why?” Was this meant as a boon or a way to break him further? Even with magic, replacing a limb with an actual one was nigh impossible. He was suddenly hyper-aware of the sensations from it. He could feel the fine hairs standing up on end and the fabric of his T-shirt brushing against it.

He tried to brush the sleeve away and froze when he saw the color. It couldn’t have been on purpose. Those cultists had no way of knowing what that color meant for him. But it was the last thread for Arthur’s mind.

Too late, Mystery Inc realized what ever was wrong with their friend, it wasn’t a prank, as Shaggy crashed to the ground in a dead faint.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Shaggy was aware of when he came to was that he was really uncomfortable. His eyes were dry and he couldn’t blink.  He was staring into the same mirror. The blond guy was looking back, but he looked less scared and more confused. He couldn’t move a muscle and apparently his left arm had completely fallen asleep.

He tried to blink again and realized someone was holding his eyes open. “Like, what gives man?” He asked.

“Wha-? How can it be you’ve resisted it’s power?” The mirror was pulled away, revealing a cloaked man in a scary mask.

“Zoinks!” Shaggy tried to jump away, but was held tight by the bonds of the chair.

“There’s no help for it. If you can resist the Life Stealer, I’ll just have to use more _primitive_ means.”

The man placed the mirror in a box and closed it. Shaggy nearly felt his heart stop as the robed man pulled an ornate knife from out of his robes.

“In the name of Farzlrez Ken, I consecrate your soul. As your blood flows from your body, he shall be born anew.”

This couldn’t possibly be happening. This couldn’t be how he was going to die, not so young. At least Scooby Doo and the others didn’t seem to be here. At least they were safe.

As the knife came down a wall of purple fire separated Shaggy from the madman. The would-be killer stumbled backwards with a screech. Shaggy could now blink as whoever had been holding his eyes shut leapt back as well.  As the flames died down he saw a young woman he didn’t know leap in the air, a baseball bat in her hands. With a thunk the guy with the knife was down for the count. He heard a few more thunks, shouts, and a sizzling sound. Presumably the guy holding his eyes and his friends being defeated as well.

The woman turned to face him. The phrase vision in blue certainly applied. She had short blue hair, blue clothes, even her bat was blue. The only thing she wore that wasn’t blue was a pair of violet half-glasses.

She examined him closely for a moment, eyes narrowing as she studied his face.

“You’re not Arthur.” she said with purpose.

“Like sorry, can’t say that I am,” Shaggy agreed.

Sudden large hands grabbed him and Shaggy found himself face to skull with a very angry ghost. “ZOINKS!” Unable to move he just tried to burrow as deep as possible in the chair.

“Where is Arthur!” it demanded, rage dripping from his voice as fire sparked from it’s hair.

“Like I don’t know,” Shaggy whimpered, “I don’t even know how I got here. Please don’t kill me…”

Surprisingly the ghost seemed to back off at that, his hair settling from flames into an actual hairdo.

The blue woman took over. “What’s your name?” her tone wasn’t mean, but it was forceful.

“Sh-Shaggy Rogers.” he answered.

“Shaggy?” She raised an eyebrow.

He gave her a slightly twisted smile. “My real name’s Norville.” he admitted. The woman and the ghost seemed to share a look.

“Are you a ghost?” she finally asked.

Okay, that was probably the oddest question he’d ever been asked. “If I was a ghost, I’d like, just walk through this chair. These binding are so tight I can’t feel my arm.” He tried to rotate his left shoulder.

“I hate these,” The woman muttered under her breath. “Shaggy, what was the last thing you remember?” she asked in a much kinder tone.

“Like we were in the back of a museum checking out this mirror. Then I was here.”

“Did anything bad happen at the museum?” she suggested. “Did you get hurt or anything?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Just looking in the mirror one moment and here the next.”

The woman sighed and took the ghost by the arm. It stuck Shaggy as strange how lovingly the gesture was. “Our friend Lewis should be able to get you out of those straps. The cultists should be out for a bit, we’ll be right back.”

~

“You thinking what I’m think, Lew?” Vivi asked quietly.

The ghost sighed. “Poor guy doesn’t realize he’s dead.”

She nodded sadly. “Speech patterns and the name Norville point to sometime in the fifties to sixties. Probably closer to the sixties. I hate these,” she repeated.

Lewis nodded quietly.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I just don’t like scaring people.” Unsaid, but understood was that he didn’t like scaring innocent people. Doubly so, innocent people with Arthur’s face.  

It was all too easy for him to remember seeing Arthur that way. Cringing and scared, begging Lewis not to kill him. All for a crime he’d never even committed. They were still friends, but Lewis knew he’d completely shattered Arthur’s once unshakable trust in him. Sure, Arthur would live with him, hang with him, laugh and tell jokes. But there was always a skittishness, as though he were ready to bolt at any second. For a while Lewis had felt the same fear being alone with the man he’d thought had killed him. But it was hard to be afraid of someone who was terrified of you. The only thing worse was seeing Arthur during his bad days, when he felt he’d honestly deserved all of Lewis’s misplaced wrath.

This ghost didn’t even realize he was dead. Didn’t know he was possessing someone else. Had no idea what the cultists had done. He was just as innocent in this mess as Arthur had been. With a breath he didn’t need, Lewis faded into his less threatening form. Sliding his shades over his dark eyes, he met her gaze. “How do we break it to him?”

“Break what to whom?” Mystery trotted up to the two. “Has Arthur been located?”

Vivi sighed. “Yes, but he’s being possessed. We think the ghost is from the fifties or sixties. He doesn’t know he’s dead.”

Mystery raised an eyebrow. “That’s an awfully long time for a ghost to manifest.”

“Yeah, but remember what tipped us off to these guys? Collecting cursed artifacts. And one of them was a mirror called the Life Stealer.”

Lewis winced. “The last thing Shaggy said he remembered was looking at a mirror in a museum-”

Vivi nodded. “Exactly. My guess is he was killed by a curse on the mirror. Someone probably did a slip shod exorcism binding him into something else, which the cult stole along with the mirror. They ended up setting him free and he was drawn to Arthur like every ghost shy of Lew is.”

Mystery nodded. “The first order of business is to remove him from Arthur’s body. Then the hard part. This Shaggy may be friendly enough now, but give him some bad news, especially of his own demise, and that could change in a  heartbeat.”

“We know.” Vivi leaned over and grabbed Lewis’s arm again. “Can you do the initial exorcism, Mystery?”

The kitsune nodded and they re-entered the room.

“There you guys are,” Shaggy greeted cheerfully. “It was, like, kinda creepy being left alone with a bunch of unconscious kooks.”

“Sorry about that,” Lewis apologized. The thought that the ghost might get scared hadn’t even occurred to them. It made sense though in retrospect, he didn’t think of himself as such

“No problem, man. Are you Lewis?” The purple haired man nodded. Hey, he had an ascot just like Fred. “You can get me out of this, right?”

Mystery jumped on the boys lap and looked into his eyes. Shaggy had an aura. It was odd, he’d never seen one that targeted animals before. As a kitsune he was able to ignore the effect for the most part, but it made him want to trust the boy.  After a minute, though, Mystery discovered there were a few problems with the plan.

“Arthur’s soul isn’t present at all. And this boy is quite alive.”

“Of course I’m alive!” Shaggy didn’t know if he should be insulted or confusion.  “And I told you I wasn’t this Arthur person.” The purple haired guy shared a look with the dog then began to unbind him. “Seriously, what’s going on here.” Those bindings must have been tight. He still had no feeling in that arm.  

“Arthur’s our friend,” The blue lady explained. “He was kidnapped by the cultists and you’re kind of possessing his body.” She pulled a compact out of her pocket and handed it to him.

“Why do you even have that?” Lewis asked. “You don’t wear make-up,”

“Looking around corners.” Vivi replied with an eye roll, as though it were obvious.

Shaggy wasn’t paying attention to them anymore, though. In the mirror was a reflection he was becoming increasingly familiar with. Shaggy bit his lip and the reflection followed suit. He winked and blinked, trying to get the mirror to slip up. It didn’t.

The blond haired man was once more staring back at him. And, as with the first time, he was  ** _terrified_**.  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“Are you sure it will be okay leaving him with just a dog?” Dr. O’Neil inquired, worriedly. They had left Shaggy asleep in the museum infirmary.

“It’s alright,” Fred reassured. “Scooby’s a fully trained service dog.  If anything starts to go wrong, he can get help. Right now the best thing we can do for Shaggy is find out what happened in the first place.”

Daphne shuddered, “He didn’t know us at all.  And he was scared of Scooby. That just…it just isn’t right!”  

“It wasn’t just memory loss, his speaking pattern, his entire manner changed.” Velma added. “That’s not a small thing,”  Her voice was quieter than usual. She couldn’t think of anything, not one thing, that could have caused this.

“Agreed,” Dr. O’Neil stated.  “I hope the security cameras can tell us something.” The research room had a fairly extensive camera system to prevent any researchers from pocketing any of the art or relics they were studying.

The first review of the footage revealed nothing besides what they had seen. Shaggy looked in the mirror, seemingly acting normally, then was knocked back and began acting strange.

“There’s got to be something we’re missing.” Velma rewound the security tape. “There!”

There seemed to be something wavering between Shaggy and the mirror the moment before he collapsed.

“But what is it?” Daphne squinted at the screen. “I can’t make it out.”

“We have some image enhancement equipment, used for paintings.” Dr. O’Neil volunteered.

“We’d appreciate it,” Fred said gratefully.

“Not at all. I decided to let you kids handle a cursed artifact. It’s the least I could do.” She began to turn on various systems.

“It’s not a curse.” Velma insisted. “There’s no such thing. I don’t know what this is, but it’s not supernatural.”

The image appeared on the screen. A few quick adjustments made the strange distortion clearer. “Darkening seems to work. Let’s lower the gamma as much as possible.” A few keystrokes later and the image became clear.

“Jeepers!” Daphne reared back as though the image struck her. Fred’s jaw dropped and Velma couldn’t even manage a quiet ‘jinkies’.

From what was barely visible in the dark image as the mirror came two white misty hands that seemed to be reaching into Shaggy’s chest.

Without a word, Dr. O’Neil loaded the next frame. Though it was only a fraction of a second later, the hands had retracted, dragging a translucent Shaggy from his body. The third frame showed him being pulled into the mirror. The fourth showed a new translucent figure, a man with spiky hair being pushed at Shaggy. The fifth frame showed the man being shoved into Shaggy’s body, knocking it back.

“What did we just see?” Fred asked, dumbfounded.

“A possession? Maybe a body swap?” Daphne suggested.

“Those things are impossible,” Velma stated forcefully. “Someone must have doctored this. It wouldn’t be too hard to guess we’d be interested in the mirror.”

“Interested, yes. But to know we were standing exactly? That’s a lot of foresight,” Daphne countered. “Face it, Velma, for once something genuinely strange is happening to us,”

“I’m not admitting it, because it isn’t true. We always end up in situations that appear supernatural and we haven’t found one yet that hasn’t fallen apart under some investigation.” Velma straightened her glasses. “Right Freddy?”

But the blond teen only shook his head, “Any other case, I’d agree with you, Velma, but this?” He gestured to the screen. “I just don’t know.”

“Maybe we should check on your friend,” Dr. O’Neil suggested, “Perhaps Shaggy can shed some light on what happened.”

“Or whoever he is,” Daphne whispered under her breath.

They made their way to the infirmary, only to find it empty.

“Where are they?” Freddy asked, running to the small cot, looking under it as though Shaggy and Scooby might be hiding beneath.

That was the final straw for Daphne. “Scooby Doo,  _where are you_?!” she shouted.

“Rin Rear!” They heard the dog call out.

They followed the voice into a men’s room. They found Scooby sitting on the floor, keeping an eye on a shirtless Shaggy, who was staring at the mirror with the most lost expression they had ever seen

~

Arthur woke up on a cot, a damp cloth on his forehead.  Before he opened his eyes, thus revealing to whoever was watching that he might be awake, he tried to take stock. The last thing he remembered couldn’t have been real, could it?

He tried to pay attention to the parts of his body he usually focused on ignoring. Sure enough, no pain anywhere in his body and definitely able to feel with his left arm. That disturbed him more than anything else.

He risked cracking open his eyes. He was in a simple room with a cot and a cabinet full of medical supplies.

“Rou’re arake,” he heard coming from his side. Like a lightning bolt Arthur was up and huddled in the corner, the canid between him and the door.

The great dane seemed to droop. “Rease,” it pleaded, “R’ont re rared”

“E-easy for you to say,” Arthur tried to keep his voice steady. Whatever this was, it was better at the whole doggy thingy than Mystery was. Even when he’d thought the fox spirit was a dog, he’d always seemed a bit aloof and dainty. Conversely this one (Scooby, the red-head had called him) still seemed like a real dog, even when he was obviously talking. He seemed truly broken-hearted that Arthur was afraid of him. The mechanic was shocked to discover he felt sorry for it. “What are you anyway? A Kitsune?”

“Rut’s a ritsune?” Scooby asked, his head cocked.

“A fox spirit,” Arthur answered. “They’re shapeshifters.”

“Rope, a dog.”

“Dogs don’t talk.” Arthur stated again. “I’ve met something pretending to be a dog before and…” Arthur clutched his left arm, a nervous habit he wasn’t used to actually feeling. Mystery had to do what he did. Arthur didn’t hold it against him, and yet he couldn’t block out the knowledge of what he knew Mystery could do.

His hand broke contact as Scooby (when had he moved?) had nudged his head beneath Arthur’s right hand. “Dog” he insisted.

Almost on instinct Arthur began scratching him behind his ears. The animal had a very soothing presence, and not the syrupy saccharine one you tended to get from creatures trying to lull you into a false sense of security. It was the genuinely good feeling one tended to get from holy places or benevolent spirits. “Fine, a dog,” While Arthur didn’t quite believe that, he at least acknowledged that Scooby seemed to. Scooby just wagged his tail happily.

While he pet the ‘dog’ Arthur paid attention to his hands. He had gone with the right hand for skritching, even though he was left handed. And the fingers were longer, more tapered than his normal one. Perfect hands for playing the piano.  _Could never play well enough. Not good at anything-_

His train of thought was interrupted by Scooby whining. The dog was looking at him concerned, “Ron’t be rad,”

“Don’t be sad? Sorry, that’s a pretty constant state for me,” Arthur admitted. “Is there a mirror around here? An uncursed one. I think I need to see.”

“Rathroom,” Scooby answered, leading the way.

The first thing Arthur saw in the reflection had nothing to do with his body. The shirt was a lime green, a very different shade, but it was still practically ripped off and thrown across the room at the speed of light.

“I don’t like green,” was his only response, his tone brooking no other comment.

Then he decided  to do what he came here for. Gathering his strength, he looked into the mirror. It was the boy he’d seen in the cursed one. Scruffy brown hair fell halfway down his neck. His chin had the stubbly growth of a youth’s first attempt to grow facial hair. Without a shirt it was easy to see how unblemished his skin was. Not a scar on it. And, as he’d already known, two functioning arms. And he looked so _young_. Not that 24 was a ripe old age by any means, even if Arthur felt it sometimes.

But this wasn’t just a body out of nowhere. The other teens had recognized it as much as Scooby had known he wasn’t their friend. A weight in his pocket denoted a wallet which contained, among other things, a driver’s license giving him the name ‘Norville Rogers’. He slid the wallet back into the pocket and stared once more into the mirror. This was a real person whose identity he’d stolen in just about every way possible. Arthur hated it when things decided to possess him.

Now he was the one who’s stolen someone else’s life.


	4. Chapter 4

“Zoinks,” Shaggy whispered. It’s not like weird things had never happened to him before. But this took the cake. Huh, that thought would usually have made him hungry. He pulled on his face, hoping it was just a mask or something. No such luck.

“What does that mean?” The woman - he really needed to get her name- asked. “I heard you say it earlier too,”

“Oh, er, it’s just, like, something I say when I’m surprised.” Shaggy shrugged, then twitched his left shoulder. “Man, this arm feels messed up.”

“It is,” Lewis said softly, “Artie lost it almost two years ago.”

Shaggy did a double take between Lewis and the arm. He rolled up the shirt sleeve to see where the flesh connected to metal. He gave the fingers on his (Arthur’s?) left hand an experimental wiggle. The fingers moved exactly as he expected them to, but there was no feeling in them. He hadn’t even realized he could feel fingers moving until he couldn’t.

“Like, weird.”

“Arthur was really proud of it. He designed and built it himself, with only one hand.” She sounded so proud of him, it made Shaggy’s heart hurt.

“We’ll find him, Vi.” Lewis promised. “First we need to find that mirror, it may be connected.”

“Like, it’s over there.” Shaggy pointed to a box. The other two turned to him. “The head kook said something about me being able to resist it and put it in there. Then he pulled out the kni-knife.” Shaggy shuddered. He still couldn’t believe how close that had been. He had new respect for Daphne if this is what she went through whenever she got grabbed.

The lady (Vi?)went straight for the box, but Lewis waved her off. “It’s a cursed mirror. It might be dangerous. Let me handle it.”

“But won’t it be dangerous for you too?” Shaggy asked concerned.

Lewis gave him a sad, amused grin. “I’ll be fine.” Shaggy was aware of a sudden change in the mood between the three of them. Mystery didn’t quite whine, but let out a sad noise. Vi averted her eyes.

The tall man leaned over and opened the box. “It looks like a normal mirror.”

“Like, it did at the museum too,” Shaggy responded. “Fred, Daphne, and Velma looked into it,” He missed Vi and Lewis sharing a look, as they noted Velma, another name more in use in the fifties. “-and nothing happened. Then when I looked in it I saw,” He gestured to himself. “Arthur, I guess.”

“You saw Arthur in the mirror?” Vi asked, “While you were in the museum?”

Shaggy nodded.

Vi and Lewis shared a confused look. “What’s wrong?”

It was the dog that spoke up. “The trick to dealing with magic is figuring out the rules by which it works. Our first assumption, incorrect as it may have been, was the the mirror had somehow killed you and when the cult tried to use it on Arthur it caused you to possess him.”

“The logical adjustment to that theory, on the discovery of you being alive, was that the mirror trapped your soul inside it without killing you. When Arthur gazed upon it, your trapped soul was swapped with his, leaving you in his body and Arthur in the mirror.”

“However, you seeing Arthur while still in your own body complicates things immensely. Was there anything else unusual about the mirror?”

Shaggy thought for a moment. “Everyone else who saw something weird in it, like, saw guys in red robes and masks. And they didn’t body swap.”

“Red Robes and masks? Like these guys?” Lewis gestured to the fallen cultists.

Shaggy could only shrug. “I never saw it, only Arthur.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Does the mirror have some sort of prediction power as well? Can it see through time to it’s next victim?” Mystery started pacing. “Shaggy, what was the date when you looked into the mirror?”

“July 11th, 2015,” He answered, unsettled. He supposed it made sense that he had been stuck in the mirror, but for how long? What if the others had gotten older? Like decades older? Who was taking care of Scooby? How were his parents coping? What happened to his body?

“That’s today!” Vi declared.

“What does it mean?” Lewis asked. “The mirror was stolen months ago. How could Shaggy have looked into it at a museum today?”

“Oh, tell me we’re not dealing with parallel realities,” Mystery threw his head back dramatically. “The calculations for dealing with those are a nightmare.”

“Seems likely, I’m afraid.” Lewis confirmed.

“Unless there’s, like, two mirrors,” Shaggy joked. The other three shot up their heads to look at him, “What?”

“Two mirrors…Life Stealer…This explains everything!” Mystery declared, pacing again. “We made the same assumption the cultists did. That the name Life Stealer meant the mirror was a lethal artifact. But it wasn’t. It’s more Identity Theft. Create your own Prince and the Pauper scenario. Just give the person you want to replace one mirror and stare into it’s twin until they do.”

“It can’t be just seeing someone, though. After all, museum goers caught glimpses of the cultists, but weren’t switched. Perhaps something like direct eye contact? That seems likely.” He then turned his attention to Shaggy, “Presuming Arthur is in your body, how would those around you be handling it?”

Shaggy thought for a moment. “Velma wouldn’t believe it. Daphne would. Freddy might as well. Scooby would definitely know it wasn’t me, though. He’d probably want to help.”

“Scooby?” Vi asked.

“My dog. He’s a great dane and, like, my best friend in the entire world.”

Mystery nodded. “Animals, especially canines, would be attuned to that sort of thing.”

“You would know,” Vivi teased.

“I like to think I am an authority on the subject, yes.” Mystery added as those his bias wasn’t in question. “Arthur would not be in any immediate danger, correct?”

“Of course not!” Shaggy defended. “My friends would never let anything happen to me, even if I wasn’t exactly me.”

“Then we should remove the mirror and anything else magical that might cause trouble and let the police know we’ve found their thieves.” Vi decided. “Then we need to get in contact with Arthur and find a way to reverse the spell.

“Sounds like a plan,” Shaggy agreed. He was well familiar with Fred making plans, and from what he could tell, Vi was definitely the leader of this group, for all of Lewis’s resemblance to Freddy. “What about the ghost?”

“The Ghost?” Lewis asked, looking a little nervous.

“The scary one from before. He was your friend, right?” Shaggy looked around a bit nervously. “Is he coming t-too?” Preoccupied with keeping an eye out for the skull-ghost, he missed Lewis’s pained wince.

“He’ll be around if we need him, but for now it’s just Lewis, Mystery, you and me.” Vi reassured. “Let’s get out of here before these guys wake up,”

~~~~


End file.
